BURY CLARION

LAST Sunday the A Section enthusiasts traversed the magnificent Belmont moors on a cold but brilliantly sunny day.

The usual cafe at Walton-le-Dale was the venue for refreshment before returning home via Chorley and Horwich.

In marked contrast, the earlier starting B Section club run was a mile-eating outing of 93 miles on a tourist route through Rainford to Southport and back.

Adrian Smith led this ride which meant that he had a busy weekend.

On Friday he was at the Velodrome where he broke the club record for the 200-metres flying start trial with a time of 12.9 seconds.

He did a flyer again in the 20-laps points, breaking away from the field with two laps to go and holding this to the line. He followed this up with a second place in the 20-lap scratch.

This veteran rider displayed the vitality of those 20 years his junior by competing at Monday's meeting at the Velodrome, taking first place in the eight-lap keiren John Harris, who is a former veteran league champion, finished third in this event.

In the last 30 years, there has been a change in the cycling world which means that many clubs like Bury Clarion cannot attract 20-year-olds.

We are, however, proud of our 12-year-old members Simon and Adam Yates. At Monday's Velodrome meeting the twins had their most successful night of the year. Adam was particularly impressive for the first time winning twice on the same evening.

John Harris had the pleasure of pacing him to victory in the 10-lap paced handicap and then Adam went on to win the third race of the six-lap keiren. His success did not finish there as he finished second to brother Simon in the nine-lap points. Simon was also fourth in the eight-laps handicap and third in the 10-lap paced handicap, paced by energetic Adrian Smith.

TANDEM RIDING

CLUB FOR THE

VISUALLY IMPAIRED

ON last Sunday's club ride we were delighted to welcome Olympic paraplegic swimming gold medallist, Elaine Barret.

For this initial outing with the club, she was steered by club stalwart Dave Harrison.

She has been introduced to the club by our blind club chairman, Martin Conway, following her move north from London. We also welcomed blind, severely deaf Helen Browne, who we have not seen for some weeks.

In the event, we decided that it would be a short ride to Rivington and back to Bury by making for the Chapel Cafe in preference to the Barn.

Elaine's inexperience of cycling meant that she was not appropriately attired for cycling in the cold and only when she was chilled were we aware of her predicament.

The simple remedy of putting her cagoule on to keep out the chill factor of the wind was all that was needed for a more comfortable ride. Elaine indicated the possibility of her taking up cycle racing so we now have the problem of fixing her up with a suitable racing partner and tandem.

WEST PENNINE ROAD CLUB

LAST Saturday, Noel Healey was once again the organiser of the North West Passage audax events.

Bury riders, Vince Eastwood and Steve Hepworth, and Radcliffe rider Andy Horner, rode the 210 kilometre route which has its furthest control point at Kirkby Lonsdale.

At Nelson, they were with the leading bunch but an old leg injury was causing Steve great difficulty and he retired just at the time that Vince's check card fell out of his back pocket.

The delay in retrieving his card, and with a fierce headwind to face, meant that he never got back with the group and continued round the course by himself but finishing within the time limit.

Other Bury riders, Ken Allen and Robert Pickup, decided on the less demanding 120 kilometre route that goes through Waddington and Bolton by Bowland before they returned to the start at Rochdale within the time limit.

This year is the 75th anniversary year of the club.